


. . .against me. . .

by SimplySix



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Drama, F/M, Fluff, POST AC, Yuffentine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-15
Packaged: 2018-01-01 14:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 7,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1044894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplySix/pseuds/SimplySix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I was so cruel.  I said such hateful things.  I won't get to say I'm sorry!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tides

**Author's Note:**

> This is a much older story when I first started writing for the FINAL FANTASY fandom. To be fair, I was still cutting my teeth on the idea of PUBLISHING fanfiction at this time. So, the writing is a bit coarse. 
> 
> I have edited most of the grammatical and spelling errors. I have also spruced it up a bit. But, the core of the writing remains pretty much unchanged. 
> 
> I believe this story originally appeared on my FFNET page in 2007. Again, it appeared under my former Pen Name, "Jupiter Green" originally. 
> 
> Enjoy.  
> Six

The pain had never been so fierce.  Losing a battle had never been this unbearable. The loss seemed to travel to every fiber of her being and rip deeper into her soul. The darkness clutched at her heart and the waves of inky black had quickly submerged her body.

 

_I'm going to die here. . .all because of me and my stupid mouth._

 

Limbs thrashed and blood spilled as Yuffie Kisragi vainly tried to fight off the impending doom surrounding her. There was nothing but deathly silence as she vainly swung her weapon around. She had abandoned all ninja logic and acted on panicked instinct instead. She didn't know what else to do. The darkness clutching at her skin was too strong to face alone or with something as common as logic.

 

Yuffie's stormy violet gray eyes started to fill with tears as the dark curling fingers of the sea ripped her Conformer away from her and the metal star vanished beneath the tumbling waves.  Evil tendrils of a greater fear snaked their way around the ninja's ankles as she gave a startled cry in shock.

 

The blue black clouds were getting dim as the surface rocked above her. Horrid torrents of dark seawater rushed into Yuffie's mouth, acrid and vile.  Her throat burned and her lungs strained as the current continued to pull her farther away from the land of the living.

 

As her eyes slowly began to narrow, Yuffie's thoughts trailed back through the mist of her recent memories and came across the long, pale face of her often silent companion.  She felt her chest ache from a different pain as the ninja's arms stopped flailing and slowly floated alongside her motionless. Her legs had long since stopped and now she resembled a rag doll rocking in the ocean's cradle.

 

_I was so horribly mean to him.  I am always mean to him.  I have wanted nothing more than for him to say it to me. . .and then, when he does. . .I. . ._

 

Yuffie blinked slowly.

 

It didn't matter now.  The world was growing dark and there was death lingering in her blood.

 

Trails of shimmering red droplets surrounded Yuffie's pale frame as a crushing silence pressed down upon her. 

 

_Oh, Vincent. . .I'm so sorry. . ._


	2. In My Memory

_"Well, you shouldn't have left your materia out there, Yuffie."_

_Yuffie Kisaragi glared at her sullen faced partner and shook violently._

_"Vincent, I specifically told you to keep an eye on it for JUST ONE MINUTE!  God, sometimes you are just useless, you know that?"_

_The tall, elegant form of Vincent Valentine frowned and narrowed his crimson eyes threateningly as he brushed his long, red cloak out of his way. Cerberus hung in its holster at his side as he looked down at the small, angered ninja in front of him._

_"Yuffie," he replied calmly, "I also warned you not to rely on me to keep track of your things."_

_"Vincent, all of my Restore materia was in there!" Yuffie wailed in response. "I said I would just be gone for a second!  Was it so hard to just WATCH a pile of materia, Vince? It isn't like I asked you to LOVE my materia or something clingy like THAT."_

**_you may as well have_ ** _. Vincent thought.  Instead, the gunslinger frowned._

_"What's done is done, Yuffie. We will just have to look for the materia, and if it turns up, it turns up.  You are a skilled materia hunter, are you not?  We should be able to find it."_

_Yuffie scoffed._

_"You couldn't even keep your eyes on it when it was lying on a table.  Now you want me to believe you can help me locate it when it could be MOVING?  Forget it, Vincent, I know well enough what I can and cannot trust."_

**_that's it._ **

_Yuffie looked up at Vincent with shock as the gunslinger stepped in front of her and the door, blocking her exit._

_"What are you doing you big, ol' vampire?" she asked trying to hide her nervousness. She could feel a blush coming to her cheeks as she tried to advert her eyes._

_Vincent's crimson spheres held her violet gray ones firm as his long, ebony hair fell across his face in stringy, feather light strands. His chest felt tight as he tried to gain control of the hurricane within him. He had too much to lose with this. He had too much to put on the line for some clumsy, beautiful, silly, gorgeous. . ._

_"What is wrong with you, Yuffie?"_

_Yuffie regarded Vincent's abnormally soft, yielding tone with worry and eased herself back on her heels and crossed her arms in order to ease her discomfort._

_She frowned and tossed her head to the side as she glared._

_"What are you talking about, Vincent?" she asked._

_Vincent watched Yuffie's posture change dramatically and he could tell that the ninja was flustered, if not downright afraid. As of late, that had been the ninja's first reaction around him. He had begun to really notice it after Shelke left Edge to continue work with Reeve in Kalm._

_Before, Yuffie's ever persisting smile never failed to grace his doorstep, or that of any of the other AVALANCHE members. She was her bright, bumbling self even though she had taken to trying to help her ailing father rule over the land of Wutai.  However, recently, the ninja had been avoiding people. And when Vincent meant people, he meant HIM._

_But he knew why._

_He knew why she trembled._

_"You know what I am talking about." Vincent said aloud, trying to offer Yuffie the chance to answer of her own, free will before he forced her to answer him._

_He needed to know._

_He needed to see if she was coming back. . .the Yuffie he had fallen. . ._

_"Get out of my way, Vincent, or I will MAKE you get out of my way." Yuffie replied coldly._

_Her body was trembling beneath the locked arms across her chest. She felt her heart beating incessantly as Vincent's eyes silently bore into her. She knew what he was doing. He was trying to will her to speak with those vampire red eyes of his. Those lovely, beautiful red. . ._

_"What happened to the Yuffie I know?"_

_Vincent's voice had changed to a terribly uncharacteristic tone of concern and worry and it was enough of a change to get the ninja to look up at the aching gunslinger. She looked at him with a passive face, but her eyes revealed that she wanted to reach out and hold him as their irises picked out every fear and regret in Vincent's countenance._

_Vincent Valentine had a lot to regret._

_"Nothing, Vinnie. She's still right here." the ninja replied with as much usual, Yuffie cheer as she could muster._

_Yuffie trembled as Vincent walked forward and stood dangerously close to her. She could feel his warmth against her bare skin as the crimson eyes continued to stare down at her. Yuffie stared at the floor past Vincent's golden gauntlet as she thought about fainting._

_Her eyes closed and she dangerously wobbled as Vincent lowered his lips to the side of her face and tickled a sensitive spot near her ear._

_He always did that at times like this. He knew it made her weak._

_"Vincent. . ."_

_The almost voiceless word escaped her mouth out of reflex before she could stop it and she winced internally for letting herself slip as she felt Vincent's gloved fingers slide up her shoulder and gently touch her face.  The feeling sent shocks through her nerves as Yuffie patiently endured the gunslinger's torture._

_Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, she heard his voice._

_"I love her. . .that Yuffie. . .I need to know. . .if she. . .loves me, too."_

_Vincent could barely get the words out at an audible level, but he felt Yuffie's muscles tense up violently and he knew that he had been heard. The violent shake of the ninja caused him to draw back hastily and he looked down at her with a bit of regret mixed with sorrow._

_"Yuffie. . .I. . ."_

_"Stay away." Yuffie warned softly._

_Vincent quietly obeyed.  He worriedly watched as Yuffie backed up into the table and slowly began easing herself around it without taking her scared, frightened eyes off of him._

_That look.  That one of pure terror._

_He'd only seen it on Yuffie's face one, other time._

_Vincent painfully flicked his eyes downward as a jerking pain tugged at his heart._

_He should have known better. . .he **had** known better. He just chose to ignore it.  _

_The irony was sickening._

_"Move.  Let me out. I can't breathe."_

_Vincent looked at the ninja as Yuffie dangerously teetered back and forth.  He quickly made to move forward and support her, but the ninja's hand came out sharply and warded him away._

_"Just. . .move."_

_"Yuffie, please, I had no intentions of hurting you." Vincent breathed trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "I am sorry."_

_"Don't be." Yuffie gasped as she stumbled for the door. "I just. . .I've been waiting. . .but. . ."_

**_I know you love me.  I wish. . .God, Vincent, I wish. . .I could. . .but I'm a liar, Vince. . .I am such a liar. . ._ **

_As she grasped the handle, she felt the nausea in her stomach start to rise. Even as it pained her to do so, Yuffie Kisaragi turned and looked at the tall, handsome man she had been in love with for ages, and spoke the words she knew would get him away from her forever. Away from his crimson rapture, away from his warm embrace, away from the words he spoke to her to make her heart tremor._

_She had to say them._

_"I could never love a monster who tried to kill me."_

_Being a liar had never hurt so bad._


	3. Beneath the Waves

Her words had worked.

 

She had waited long enough to hear Vincent's heart shatter in his chest before turning out of the room and running outside. She had thrown up in the alley for fifteen minutes before she could calm herself down enough to move again. Even then, she was weak and disoriented and had run right into a waiting ambush of sea monsters near the beach she usually visited to be alone.

 

As the current situation indicated, the battle had not been in her favor.

 

Yuffie's mind started to slip as she vainly tried to retain what little consciousness she had left. She painfully felt the burning in her lungs go numb as the pain in her bleeding heart grew worse.  She never would have imagined that drowning took so long. Did Death really move so slow?

 

Yuffie's mind shifted back through the hazy memories as Vincent's face surfaced to the forefront of her mind.

 

How could she have said those things to him?

 

How could she have left him with those horrible, hateful, lying words?

 

Yuffie suddenly felt dirty.

 

It was only _because_ of him they. . .


	4. Before the Fall

_"YUFFIE, GET OUT OF THERE!"_

_Yuffie cried out as another tumble of rocks threatened to squash her from above. She could hear Tifa yelling at her, but she had no idea where. Besides, it didn't matter. She wasn't going anywhere without Vincent._

_Yuffie cursed in her native tongue and grasped her weapon securely in her hand as she darted with lightning speed through the crumbling structure beneath Midgar.  She and the others had been looking for remnants to use in re-building Edge when something had shifted in the Planet and the entire underground structure had begun to collapse.  Now, with most of her teammates safely above, that only left the illusive Vincent Valentine to account for._

_He and Yuffie had been scrounging around the lower levels of the building when the first warnings were given out. They had gotten separated when a large rock blocked the hallway between the rooms where they had been searching.  Upon finding no other entrance to the other side of the room, Yuffie started pulling summon materia out of her Conformer slots and began readying attacks._

_As she came to rest in the spot she had last left Vincent, Yuffie suddenly felt the earth go unnaturally still._

_Yuffie worriedly lowered her materia as she looked around with a start._

_Then, without warning, a series of roars and growls erupted from behind the wall of rock sending pieces of it flying everywhere._

_Yuffie screamed more out of surprise than fear. Sharp, stinging pain spread from her stomach up the sides of her body as claws shoved her back against the far wall._

_The Conformer fell to the ground, and with it, the materia she had pulled from it to use to free Vincent. Yuffie silently cursed herself and was about to make an attempt to free herself from the creature when she turned with shock.  All of the feeling drained from the violet gray eyes as she met the flaming red yellow ones in front of her._

_The Galian Beast looked at his prey with a blinding fury as he kept the young ninja pinned against the wall.  He smelled fear and confusion. Two things easily associated with weakness.  He made to attack when he felt a sudden jerk at the back of his mind._

_"Vincent. . .it's. . .it's Yuffie! Please. . .please put me down!"_

_This was not right. Something. . .about this woman. . ._

_Galian Beast's grip loosened slightly as trickling trails of blood slowly escaped from Yuffie's abdomen where his claws were firmly clenched._

_The ninja's hands slid over his claws and gently pushed back._

_"Let me go, Vincent. Please."_

**_Yuffie_ ** _._

_Yuffie tumbled to the ground, shaken and bleeding, as the Galian Beast's form slowly melted back into the gunslinger she had attempted to locate.  She looked at Vincent as the man stumbled and fell backward, stunned from the transformation._

_She quickly moved toward her Conformer and reclaimed all of the spilled materia before huddling back toward the wall, rocks and debris still falling at random intervals. For now, it seemed like this part of the structure would hold._

**_Great. Trapped in a rotunda with a psycho.  Stephen King wrote a story like this, didn't he? Several, maybe?_ **

_Yuffie's morbid thoughts were the only things keeping her from breaking into tears as she watched Vincent curl up onto his side and groan miserably. A dull, red aura surrounded him. It had taken considerable strength to transform back into his human body._

_She bit her lip._

_Tifa and the others wouldn't be happy if they found out.  They might even punish Vincent for something he didn't mean to do.  This thought upset the ninja and she tentatively started walking toward the trembling man on the floor._

_Vincent gasped for air and looked up with clouded red eyes as a pale form with dark hair swam in his double vision. He vainly tried to get the image to focus, but the pain in his skull was blinding._

**_I lost all control. I let the demons inside of me hurt one of the friends I cherish. How could I have let this happen?_ **

_As his thoughts buzzed in his aching skull, he felt someone tugging on his shoulders.  The form above him was grunting against his weight as his body slid across the stone. Vincent heard his gauntlet fingers scratching along the grainy surface of the ground as the form continued to drag him along._

_"Geez, Vince, you're heavy."_

_A rock clattered to the tile floor as Yuffie managed to pull Vincent out of harm's way. She peered over him as the gunslinger stared vacantly up at her. She knew he couldn't see her. At least, she knew he couldn't see her very well. She sighed as she turned away and looked around._

**_Great._ **

_"Well, way to go, One Ball Wrecking Crew." sighed Yuffie, frowning.  "_ _Your little stunt back there not only blocked the exit again, but it also ruined my favorite tank top. Jesus, Vincent. What in the hell were you thinking? Letting Galian Beast out in here? During an EARTHQUAKE? You knew I was down here, too, didn't you? God, you could have. . .could have **killed** me."_

_The last few words trailed off Yuffie's lips as the sudden realization sank into mind. Yes, she **could** have been killed. She frowned as she looked down and saw Vincent wince._

_He already knew all that._

_There was a silence that lingered between the two of them.  Finally, Yuffie sighed._

_"It's all right, Vince." Yuffie whispered more for herself than him. "I'm. . .I'm all right."_

_Inside, she was conflicted.  She understood that Vincent housed a slew of dangerous monsters.  Often, he kept himself at a distance because of this fact. It was her own fault for insisting on hanging around him all the time.  Call it childish innocence or stupidity, but Yuffie Kisaragi didn't mind the "Ol' Vampire" as much as everyone else did._

_She and Vincent were a team, if you could call it that. They always worked together on missions, and they knew how the other worked in battle. Cid always said Vincent was the only one of AVALANCHE that could stand working with her for more than ten minutes._

_'You complement one another.' Tifa had told Yuffie once._

**_Vincent did NOT attack me._ ** _Yuffie reminded herself. **That smelly, gross looking dog beast thing attacked me.  Vincent didn't know what he was doing.  He fought to overcome it, and now he is hurt, too.  Vincent didn't attack me. . .**_

_Yuffie's thoughts must have shown on her face because Vincent's words suddenly cut up from the silence._

_"I. . .I'm. . .so. . .sor. . .sorry. . .Yuffie. . ."_

_Yuffie turned her head as Vincent's body contorted awkwardly on the ground and his words caught in his throat. She instantly started to panic as the aura returned to Vincent's body and she felt the static electricity of pain surge through the air._

_Despite better judgment, and lack of a better solution, Yuffie dropped her Conformer and her materia and started running toward Vincent.  She had moved a considerable distance away to survey the damage, and upon seeing her friend in so much agony, it didn't matter what he had done to her a few moments ago. That hadn't been her friend.  That beast WAS NOT her friend, Vincent Valentine._

_No, this twisted, writhing figure on the floor was her friend, and he needed her._

_If there were any doubts before, there were none now._

_Yuffie opened her arms as she neared Vincent._

_"VINCE, STOP IT!"_

_Vincent felt arms entangle his waist and a body slam into his as his skin perspired with the strain of the aftermath of Galian Beast._

**_What is she doing?_ ** _he thought as he felt Yuffie's head bounce against his chest._

_Yuffie clung to Vincent as he shook beneath her. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body closer to his as she clenched her eyes shut and ignored the pain in her sides.  Her injuries didn't matter. A Hi-Potion or two and she would be good as new. But Vincent's pain was something no magic could cure._

_It was something that burned deep within him and made his spirit tremble.  Seeing him in such disrepair made her heart ache in a way she had never felt it ache before. Now, clinging to the gunman, she knew that he was what mattered the most._

_She would be the first to admit she liked Vincent.  She didn't mind his odd nature or his stoic silence. He was kind and pleasant to have around when he wasn't sulking about his past.  Even then, Yuffie had gotten used to that.  While she could never understand Vincent's pain, she did understand what it was like to have an unreconciled past. She knew what it was like to have things you regretted._

_Vincent felt the ninja's lips press down on his. The soft feel of her flesh against his was something completely new and exotic and he had never before felt such a sensation. Even with Lucrecia, it had not felt like this._

_Yuffie felt Vincent's body go still beneath her as his muscles began to relax limb by limb. She felt his heart race beneath her while her own moved at a steady banter beneath her ribs._

_She wanted to keep this going. She wanted the feelings in her body to escalate into something more, but a feeling of stubborn pride started to burn deeper in her soul.  She knew that what she wanted she couldn't have._

_To save herself, to save her already doomed heart, she needed to break away. She needed to stop while there was still time to say it was just to get him to come to his senses._

_Vincent hadn't intentionally meant for the kiss to go farther. But before he had time to think logically about the situation, instinct took over again and he began craving the subtly sweet taste of Yuffie's lips. He yearned to keep her scent vividly in his nostrils, the lily and jasmine flowers tingling his senses.  He desperately wished to touch her._

_Yuffie didn't stop Vincent's hand from sliding up the side of her face and burying its fingers in her short, ebony locks. She relished the sizzle his fingertips left on her scalp in the wake of their roaming.  She wanted more as she felt the edges of Vincent's lips with her tongue._

_Vincent obliged her and the sweetness he craved from her slowly filled his mouth._

_He was setting himself up as the ninja's muscles relaxed into his. He knew that there was a chance that both of them would be hurt worse in the end. But as her fingers dug into his flesh and he felt the heat from her body soak into his, he knew there would be no stopping it._

_This was something will power alone couldn't stop._

_It wasn't like suppressing a demon. He honestly **wanted** to suppress his evils. This feeling he was feeling now was one he had forgotten long ago. It was a feeling he genuinely wanted._

_But it was wrong and they both knew it._

_They both knew it better than any of their panicked friends above desperately trying to find them.  Their love was a quiet one. It was one that had hidden behind red mantles and dark, passive eyes for years. It was one that was made painstakingly obvious by the ramblings of a bubbly ninja and the graceful protections of a shuriken._

_It was a love destined for pain._

_Yuffie pulled away from Vincent breathlessly._

_Her heart raced and her eyelids fluttered as she collapsed against her companion, her muscles limp against his. She felt his hand slide down her back and its touch sent welcome shivers down her spine._

_"Vincent. . ."_

_His name. It was the way she said his name._

_It was too late._

_Yuffie let Vincent pull her upward as his lips sought hers again._

_She should be frightened. She should be afraid of the man known as Vincent Valentine. At the very least, she should be worried about the puncture wounds in her sides, bleeding all over the two of them while they passionately kissed one another.  But the truth was, she wasn't afraid at all. She had never **honestly** been afraid of Vincent.  And now, she didn't want what was happening now to stop.  _

_Deep inside, she knew it.  She knew it now like she would forever._

_She loved Vincent Valentine._

_Yuffie tilted her head up as Vincent's lips found a soft spot on her neck and his hand slid up her side leaving tingles in its wake._

_"Vincent. . .I. . .we. . ."_

_Her voice desperately tried to find the words, but Yuffie didn't want to speak them. She didn't want the tender ministrations to end. She didn't want Vincent's hand to stop moving closer to the clasp on her shirt. She didn't want his lips to stop hungering for hers._

_It wasn't fear that made her stop._

_It was fact._

_Vincent had enough time to look up into Yuffie's cloudy violet gray eyes with hungry red ones before he realized she knew exactly what he did. That thought alone was painful for both of them and he desperately ran his fingers over her face to comfort her in some way.  Up until now, he had been running on instinct:  pure, innocent, and simple. Now that it was gone the problem was all too clear._

_Their love._

_It would be one full of pain and hardship. It took a strong will to hold back the demons that Vincent held back.  And Yuffie was one day destined for the throne of Wutai.  Vincent was an ageless spirit among many mortals. He would have to live through all of his friends dying, and he refused to love strictly on that alone.  He couldn't bear to hurt another with the thought of that permanent separation._

_No._

_No matter how much they wanted to. . .they just. . ._

_"VINCENT!"_

_"YUFFIE!"_

_The echoing calls of Barret Wallace and Cloud Strife drifted into the rotunda as Yuffie trembled on top of Vincent._

_She looked down at him as she felt his hand tighten softly against her back._

_Those crimson eyes never failed to draw her in. Never. She gazed at him painfully as his eyes scanned her features as if making a memory for reference.  She sucked in her breath softly as Vincent pulled her down to his chest and brushed his lips against her ear._

_It would be a habit he would never be able to break._

_"I'm sorry, Yuffie." he breathed softly._

_It just couldn't be. . .a sinner couldn't. . ._

_He could feel the disappointment in Yuffie's body as it tightened and the ninja forced a smile and a nod.  As their friends' voices got louder and Yuffie started babbling about how she was just trying to get him to come to his senses, Vincent winced and closed his eyes._

_Being a sinner had never hurt so bad._


	5. Beyond the Veil

_"WHY WON'T YOU LOVE ME?"_

_"Yuffie, I've told you why."_

_"LIAR."_

_"I'm not a liar."_

_"You're lying right now, Vincent Valentine!"_

_"Yuffie. . ."_

_"What is wrong with me, Vincent?  Am I not good enough?"_

_"Of course you are, Yuffie, but we've been over this.  I warned you about it. I told you being with me wouldn't be easy."_

_"But why does it have to be so hard!"_

_"Yuffie."_

_"Why can't we have what the others have? Goddamnit, Vince! What makes us DIFFERENT?"_

_". . ."_

_"Well?"_

_". . ."_

_"We're both liars then, aren't we, Vincent?"_

_"It's getting late, Yuffie. Tifa will start to worry."_

_"Yeah. I thought you might say something like that."_

_*********_

_"Please, please don't stop, Vincent. I'm begging you. Please.  I don't care anymore."_

_"Don't say that, Yuffie. Of course you care."_

_"No. . .no I don't! Please, I can't take this anymore."_

_"Yuffie. . ."_

_"Please, Vincent.  I need you. . .just speak the words.  I don't care if they're lies anymore."_

_"Yuffie, please. Please don't do this."_

_"You still can't say them, can you?"_

_"No."_

_"Then. . .then, just tell me where I belong. . ."_

_". . .against me. . ."_

_"Vincent. . ."_

_"You belong against me."_

_There were flashes of soft color in faint moonlight. Garments fell softly to the floor as arms entwined waists and lips hungrily sought each other.  Flesh burned against flesh as long, ebony hair became the jungle to a pair of deftly able, ninja hands. They gently pulled and twisted until the master of that jungle gave the owner of the able hands exactly what she wanted._

_Soft moans rolled off of the walls of a calm and peaceful existence._

_Nothing mattered beyond those four walls._

_Deep, pulsing emotion full of nothing but passion and love moved through the two bodies tangled in each other's scent and movement._

_Everything was sacred._

_"Vincent. . ."_

_"Yuffie."_

_"I don't want this to end, Vincent.  Don't let it end."_

_"Everything has to end, Yuffie."_

_"But not now."_

_"No, not now."_

_"Whisper them.  Like you promised."_

_A dark curtain of ebony hair fell down around a pale, glistening face as skilled lips fell across a trembling cheek and came to rest against an ear. The lips paused, in wait, as the trembling cheek brushed up against them._

_"Vincent. . ."_

_The lips smiled as a pair of crimson eyes closed in gentle rapture._

_". . .against me. . .Yuffie.  You belong against me.  Just. . .like. . .this. . ."_


	6. Sinking

Yuffie vainly tried to bring his face into focus one more time as a smile played upon her lips.

She had liked it when she had begged Vincent to make love to her. He always tried to resist at first, his age and stoicism getting in the way for all of about five minutes until Yuffie would use her youthful charms and agile hands to coax him out of his charade.  Once free of the things that normally made Vincent Valentine who he was, Yuffie found that the gunslinger was actually quite gentle and beautiful. He was nothing short of amazing.  Sometimes, he got the better of _her_ , but she never fought against his advances. She couldn't avoid his eyes when he stared at her. She couldn't help but listen when he whispered against her ear.

 _Like earlier. . ._           

They both knew they were lying when they said they didn't care or they didn't love one another.  They were liars to each other and everyone else. They were liars to themselves. They were liars to everything. But that was okay, because they were liars together. Nothing mattered as long as they were together.        

_That's what Vincent had said._

Yuffie closed her eyes as she felt something slip inside of her.

But it wasn't a lie to Vincent Valentine anymore.

The game they played with their relationship and the secrets they kept from their friends had been difficult from the start. No matter how hard they had tried to hide it, Yuffie knew that all of their friends caught the subtle gestures from Vincent and certainly the most obvious ones from Yuffie. Deny as they might, it had been getting harder and harder to keep the game up as of late.

You couldn't keep anything from Tifa. She'd get the truth one way or the other.

The ninja took a moment to congratulate herself.

Despite the martial artist's best attempts, Yuffie had not told Tifa about what she and Vincent were up to when they went off together. Not once had a word slipped or an action gone by that got the wind up. Given she couldn't keep quiet about anything, Yuffie was proud of herself.

That's how much Vincent meant to her.

Yuffie winced despite there being no pain.

He had spoken the words.  He had spoken the words that he had told Yuffie he could never say to her. That was part of their secret relationship. That was part of the fire and passion that had kept her hounding after him after that first night.  They were never supposed to make it real. As long as they denied the feeling, it wasn't real.

The ninja closed her eyes.

They knew better. 

She had always loved Vincent Valentine. She could lie and say it was the sex, but that would break her heart. Even if he never said it aloud, she knew Vincent cared about her more than that. She wasn't just a fling. Vincent didn't have "flings."  Just being intimate meant that the gunslinger held her closer than anything else in his life.

And Yuffie counted his gun, Cerberus.

That was it, wasn't it?

She had _always_ meant more to him. 

She. . .was. . .always. . .


	7. I Remember Now

_"Why, Vincent?"_

_"Because I can't, Yuffie."_

_"Sure you can. It's easy."_

_"No, it isn't. I don't want to say it unless I truthfully know I mean it."_

_"Gee, thanks, Vince."_

_"No, Yuffie, wait. You don't understand."_

_"Oh, no, I think I understand. I am not **Lucrecia.** "_

_"That isn't it at all, Yuffie, and you know it. Listen to me."_

_". . ."_

_"When you love someone, you should want to commit wholeheartedly to that person, without restraint and without regret. When you love someone, and you want to commit to that love, then you say those words aloud. If you say the words too often, they become hollow and meaningless. I want to be sure I can commit wholeheartedly to you.  Please, give me some time, okay?_

_"I do not want someone else to suffer for me. I do not want **them** to cause me suffering again. I have to reckon with myself first. Until I can be certain with this fate, I cannot say those words to you. Do you understand?"_

_"I. . .I think so, Vince. . .but. . ."_

_"But what?"_

_"I never suffer with you."_

_"I'll say those words to you, Yuffie. Please. Just. . .trust me."_

_"You promise, Vincent?"_

_"Will you feel better if I promise?"_

_"Not if you're saying it just to make me feel better!"_

_"Yuffie, I promise. I will say them to you."_

_"You really mean it, don't you?"_

_"I would never say aloud what I did not mean."_

_"Okay, Vince. I believe you. I'll remember this promise you know! I won't forget!"_

_"I know you won't. You are pretty good at holding a grudge."_

_"Hey!"_

_"I jest. You know that, Yuf."_

_"You're lucky I like you so much. Otherwise, I'd punch you one."_

_"Save it. You may need to hit me later."_

_"You're a riot, Vincent. You know that? C'mon! I'm hungry!"_

**_That promise. . .I remember. . .he promised. . .but. . .never said WHEN. . .I. . .remember. . ._ ** __


	8. Rescue Me

How could she have been so stupid.

Yuffie's throat started to burn as she felt the weak tears bubbling under her eyes.

He had remembered his promise.

_GODDAMNIT, JUST LET ME DIE.  WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG!?_

Yuffie's thoughts screamed in vain as regret filled her.

_I never got to say them back!_

Her eyes came open in a frenzied attempt to get her body to move again.  She struggled again and again to rise to the surface that was slowly becoming a distant memory.

_I don't want to die, and I don't want to lie to Vincent! I have. . .I have to. . .I HAVE TO LIVE!_

Her limbs refused to move. Her head bobbed back listlessly. Yuffie slowly opened her eyes and watched the last, flickering remnants of the blue black light bounce on the waves above.

She thought she could hear thunder.

_I love you, too, Vincent Valentine.  I don't want to lie anymore. I am so sorry I broke your heart. I forgot. . .our promise. . .and I am sorry._

Yuffie's eyes lethargically moved back and forth as she saw a violent splashing above her.  A dark mass blocked out what little light there was and caused Yuffie to frown.

_What in the hell?_

The pain in Yuffie's skull was returning as she tried to follow the dark mass coming toward her at what seemed to be a blinding speed. She felt the tendrils of death still clutching desperately to her as the mass grabbed her body and yanked up on it---hard.

Yuffie tried to focus on what was grabbing her, but did not have the energy to do so for very long.  Instead, she felt the burning sensation return to her chest as the mass pressed something against her mouth and a warm, moist feeling entered her throat.

What was this thing?

The desperation faded as the mass hauled her up toward the surface.  She had the oddest sensation she knew this thing, whatever it was. Its grasp on her body felt oddly familiar as both of them broke through the waves and treaded dangerously in the midst of their wake.

"YUFFIE?!"

_Is that my name?  God, I can't really remember?_

"YUFFIE!"

Someone was pulling her onto shore. She could smell the fishy grains of sand along the edge of the water and she could feel the breeze. She could see a blur trying to focus itself in her mind, but she couldn't get her eyes to stay still. Instead, she felt a horrible, nauseous feeling rise up from her stomach as someone held her nose shut and blew something warm and moist into her throat again.

_No. . .no, wait a minute. . .I don't think. . ._

The blur pulled away for a few moments and again, Yuffie's unfocused, half open eyes tried to process what it was that had pulled her from the ocean depths.

"Yuffie. . .come on, Yuffie. . .please, wake up. . . _breathe_ , Yuffie. BREATHE."

The figure was against her again as another warm, moist burst of air entered her throat.

_What in the hell is going on. . . oh, shit. . .I don't feel so good. . ._

The burning, acrid taste of salt water and dirt came up through the ninja's mouth as the blur quickly pulled away from her face and turned her body over. Vomit and water spilled onto the golden white sand as Yuffie Kisaragi expelled the vile substances from her lungs and her stomach.

She wheezed violently as rushes of pain swept through her.  Every part of her ached and burned. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and her head was a tangle of scattered memories and stinging regrets.

Her eyes suddenly focused sharply like the lens on a camera and the ninja hurriedly shut them to keep herself from throwing up again. She spit up a bit more water and groaned miserably as her body jerked with the effort. She wasn't all too sure that she wouldn't get sick again.

She tried to keep the remainder of her stomach intact as she felt a pair of hands wrap something warm around her. A familiar smell suddenly filled her sore but functional nasal passages.  The smell of gunpowder and earth wafted up to her as she suddenly opened her eyes. 

This scent. She'd grown so familiar to it.  She _knew_ it.        

_No.  It couldn't. . ._

Yuffie's eyes came up as Vincent Valentine tried to push his soaking wet hair out of his face. His clothes sagged against his lean frame as his normally passive, crimson eyes were alight with fear.

Yuffie's eyes finally filled with physical tears as Vincent trembled against her.

"Vin. . .VINCENT!"

Vincent tightly wrapped the ninja in his arms as she threw hers around him and clutched at him mercilessly.  Sobs wracked her tiny body as he closed his eyes.

He had never been so happy to see another living human in all his life.  When he had seen the remnants of a battle on the beach where he was apt to find Yuffie but didn't, he had feared. . .

It didn't matter.

She was alive

"Vincent. . .Vincent. . .I have. . .I have to tell you. . .something."

Yuffie's hoarse, cracked voice was interrupted by lung crippling hiccups and gasps as Vincent reluctantly leaned back from his lover and shook his head.

"No, Yuffie. . .it's all right."

"NO!" Yuffie cried with more force than the gunslinger actually thought she was capable of at the moment. "I HAVE to, Vincent." she breathed softer.

Vincent kept his arms firmly around her as Yuffie's head bobbed forward a little and her eyes rolled backward.

"Yuffie. . ."

The ninja's eyes narrowly came open and she remained silent for a few moments more before she slowly looked up at Vincent with a light in her eyes he hadn't seen since the night after the Galian Beast incident.  Vincent held his breath as the ninja clutched at his backside again.

"I. . .I am so. . .so sorry. . ." she whispered.

"Yuffie. . .you. . ."

"I love you, Vincent Valentine." Yuffie blurted quietly, tears streaming down her face.

She looked at Vincent passionately.

"You were. . .were. . .never a monster. . .never to me.  I should. . .should have never said. . .all those horrible things!  You remembered your promise. . .and. . .and I shunned you.  You were ready and I was so cruel.  I'm sorry!  But. . .but I know. . .I've always known.  I love you, Vince. . .I LOVE YOU. . .AND I DON'T WANT TO PRETEND ANYMORE."

Yuffie closed her eyes and let Vincent crush her against his chest. She felt the rain start to fall as her tears mixed with the salty sweet taste of Vincent's lips pressed against hers.  Her nails dug into the leather of his shirt as Vincent's right hand came up and buried its fingers in her hair at the back of her head.

He was gasping as he parted from her. He kissed her face, her forehead, her neck, anywhere he could place his lips. He trembled as he held the ninja to his body and the rain started to come down harder. Thunder rumbled softly in the distance as the waves that had once threatened to take Yuffie from him crashed into the headlands a few kilometers out.

He shook his head.

"You don't, Yuffie." he breathed softly as he began rocking the ninja in his embrace. "You don't have to pretend anymore."

Yuffie gave a pitiful cry and trembled in his arms.

"Where do I belong. . .Vincent. . .?!"

". . .against me. . ."

The words were always murmured when Yuffie pleaded and begged. He always murmured them.  He knew she liked the way the words sounded when his voice spoke them. Just as he loved hearing his name from her lips, those words from his were a reassurance that no matter what they did, as long as they did it together there was no wrong to it.

"Don't leave me, Yuffie. . ." Vincent breathed, a sudden, unfamiliar terror filling his body.  "Please, stay with me, just like this."

Yuffie managed a smile against the cold, wet leather of Vincent's shirt.

"In the rain, Vince? I'm cold."

Vincent heard the voice of the Yuffie he loved and he couldn't help but laugh.  It was a gorgeous laugh, if laughs could be called gorgeous. It was deep and true, much like the love he felt for the woman in his arms.

"Take me home, Vincent. . .I'm sorry. . .I. . .I was. . ."

Vincent shook his head and held Yuffie tighter to his body, warming her trembling bones.  The heat from his body suddenly made Yuffie drowsy and she knew she needed to get warm fast. Suddenly, that feeling dissipated as she felt Vincent's lips seek out that spot by her ear like they did every time they wanted to make sure Yuffie heard something.  She shuddered out of habit and smiled as Vincent gently kissed her.

"I love you, regardless. . .I knew you were lying. . .so there is nothing to be sorry for. . .I'm taking you home."

"But I. . .I was. . ."

"I said there was nothing to be sorry for, Yuffie." Vincent softly said leaning back and looking at Yuffie with a small smile. "Our rules were more for me than for you.  I had to make my peace with other things first.  I couldn't fully dedicate myself to you without coming to terms with them.  I knew it upset you, but that was what I needed.  I was worried I was going to lose you, Yuffie.  I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't followed you. I don't know what would have happened if I couldn't have saved you.

"You're the reason I live, _now_ , Yuffie.  I needed to be sure of that. . .and. . .now I am."

Yuffie's eyes closed as Vincent slowly placed his lips against hers and swept the ninja up into his arms.

As they parted, Yuffie smiled and looked into the crimson eyes she loved so much. She laughed a little as Vincent pressed his hand against her face and smiled at her.

"I love you, Vinnie."

"And, I, you, Yuf." 

Yuffie wrapped her arms around Vincent's neck as he stood up with her in his arms and held her close.  He wrapped his cloak tighter around her body as he started walking.

Together, both lovers smiled.

Being a liar/sinner/ninja/gunslinger had never felt better.


	9. After the Flood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the time I got done with this, I realized I had edited more than I thought I had. x)
> 
> I still think it came out okay, though.

Naked, warming bodies curled into one under the safe glow of firelight.

Soft blankets of serenity and protection covered the expanse of mountainous peaks and steady plains of maps laid out for conquest.

Roaming fingers and impatient moans stifled the silence and pushed them farther into their dream.

It didn't matter.

They were together, and as long as that was true, they couldn't go wrong.

"Don't stop, Vincent. . ."

"I won't."

"Please. . .Vincent. . .say it. . .where do I belong?"

A hand gently forced the body beneath its owner upward against the firm foundation of muscle as a soft sigh escaped the first.

"You first."

". . ."

"Say it."

Another gentle urge from the hand at the back of the first body, firmly placed it at the mercy of the second.

"Vincent. . .I love you, Vincent. . ."

Soft lips pressed against the tender flesh of the body at the mercy of the hand.

". . .against me. . .you belong against me.  Just like this."

"For how long. . .?"

". . .always, Yuffie. . .always. . ."


End file.
